For the Experience of Bees

 

 

I attended my second beekeeper association meeting tonight, and once again, I was struck by the easy going, almost serene attitude amongst the long time beekeepers. They seem to view life with a certain level of amusement, the type that understands the indifference of the universe, yet is eager to continue on. Such is beekeeping. They say, “beekeepers need bees..bees don’t need beekeepers”, and I suppose that’s true. But it’s like they know a secret, or they’ve figured something out. I like the feeling there, with so many down to earth people with a love of bees that they’re so willing to share with anyone who wants to know.

A bee colony is an expression of oneness, of All That Is. I suppose that’s why I’m drawn to beekeeping. They work in unison for a common purpose..survival of the colony, of the whole. They don’t work at cross purposes. They don’t judge one another. They understand that each has its own role to play and they do it willingly, in harmony with each other.

As a side note, I was formally trained by my mother at an early age to be terrified of bees, complete with the waving of the arms (which I gave up almost immediately), and the screaming (that took longer). And that woman could sprint like no one else when a bee was chasing her. No thought of anything else, just fleeing as fast as she could. I was expected to keep up. I was twenty six when I received my first bee sting, to be followed by the second only six weeks later. One happened in the chicken coop, and the other, the backyard. I was barefoot both times and I stepped on them, and yes, I was in the chicken coop barefooted, which I heard about from my Mother, thank you very much. I was running after one of the kids and that’s where he went. But the point was, I now knew I wasn’t allergic, so at least I could cross that off the list of reasons I was supposed to be terrified of bees.

And now a funny thing happens when I get around the bees. I’m calm. True, I have a really nice bee suit that protects me. I spared no expense there (probably motivated by some residual mother-induced terror response), but honestly, once I’m next to the open hive, I’m so blown away by what I see that there’s no time for fear. I have to say, experiencing the colony as an empath brings a resonance I’ve never felt before. It’s really an unbelievably beautiful thing to see and feel, all those bees on each frame, doing all the work of the hive. Their vibration is profound. We’re more concerned about crushing one of them than anything they might do to us. We put a birdbath next to the hive with some water plants and sticks in it for them to land on. They can evidently drown without something in it, and I was devastated to find that we lost one. Marbles help as well, so I’ll add some to the birdbath.

Bees are continually in the doing of, in the creation of, their collective survival as a colony. They live in the moment, remaining focused on their creative purpose. They fully experience their lives. When things go wrong, they don’t lament, they get to work bringing order back from chaos. They, like the long time beekeepers, understand the indifference of the universe, and survive in spite of it. The beekeeper watches this process unfold and I have to believe understands the greater application to our own collective consciousness. And what a lesson to take from them. Fully experiencing our lives as we continually create and then experience that creation, expanding our awareness as we do.

To be in this life solely for the experience of something. No judgment either way, just feel it, experience it. Somewhere, sometime, we forgot this idea and got caught up in the judgment of everything and everyone. Women in particular, expanded on this and began judging themselves and each other with a viciousness that supported the very patriarchy that has oppressed us for so long. But now, that appears to be changing. Women everywhere are feeling that pull to awaken their inner voice, their expression of the Goddess within. The momentum is there in support of this awakening.

Standing in our own power is difficult for many of us. Our strength is there, yet we’re distracted by negative voices, even our own. We emanate as extensions of Source. We emanate as extensions of Source. Believe that, for anything else is an illusion. All judgment reflects the ego. We are not ego. The ego separates us. In Source, we’re one. Like the bees. My son says that bees are really one organism. He’s getting married soon to a wonderful woman who’s becoming a neuroscientist. She also wants bees.

How awesome!

~Blessed be our greatest teachers, the bees